Outdoors: Some tips everyone should know

Thursday

Aug 14, 2014 at 11:24 PMAug 14, 2014 at 11:36 PM

Mark Blazis Outdoors

Lessons from a master: Bruce Peters, one of the best charter boat captains in the business, shared that striped bass and tuna fishing have been way off this year. Like everyone else, he's wondering why? Where are they? Why won't they bite? But he always catches fish when many go home skunked.

Peters laments, "We used to catch 20-30 on a trip, lately we're lucky to get eight. I've been fishing all my life, and I know when they're off the bite and finicky, you have to finesse them. Lighter tackle and a fresher, more natural bait presentation are keys to success. Methods that worked when the stripers were jumping out of the water in a feeding frenzy won't produce the same results when there are 20-25 boats per day pounding the surface of the water in search of a few fish."

When Peters fishes for stripers at the Monomoy rips, he sees boaters breaking a fundamental rule — running over the rip right where the fish are. He notices that they then typically spin around and drift through exactly where they just ran their boat. He knows — and so should everyone else — what a fish is going to do when a 25-foot boat with propellers spinning cruises 5 feet away. But so many anglers don't have a clue and continue chasing fish away.

He also notes boats trolling into the current. When fish are actively biting, this method works well — as long as the boat is in front of the rip and the baits are back along the edge where the fish are. "But when fishing is poor, humans get impatient and more aggressive and put the boats right over the spot in the rip where the fish like to sit — and end up pushing the fish out of the rip and off the bite for everyone."

Peters never runs through the rip he intends to fish; he always goes around it. Simple, but this basic strategy is lost on all too many Chatham/Monomoy anglers.

Fishing Chatham is always a nightmare of congestion. Boats are sometimes 10 feet away from each other. "I try to fish around jammed up boats. I try to think like a fish. Where would I get pushed? I then set up there and make my drift through with fresh bait, usually squid, sand eels, or sea worms. I use light 15-pound test line and ¾- or 1-ounce sliding sinkers, a 3-foot leader, and a 5/0 stainless hook (not black). This lighter presentation works for me. I catch an average of half a dozen nice fish when many trollers are doing nothing. I do all this with light 14-pound test tackle, not wire trolling set-ups."

As for tuna, Peters has noted that the usual areas they like to congregate in have been slow. Only the persistent boats are getting a bite or two. The fish are all good sized in the 250-300-pound/70-85-inch class. But Peters on a hunch went out twice as far with his clients who were willing to kick in an extra $200 for fuel and they landed 14 tuna. Peters is a cool gambler and a good teacher. If you want to fish with him, write him at bruce@sportfishingcapecod.com.

Cameras at risk

Thieves are at it again. Tom White, one of the most ethical sportsmen I know, just had his trail camera stolen — on his own farm in Grafton. Besides being on private land, the trail camera was positioned in a very hidden spot. As hunters begin scouting out places to hunt this fall, setting out their cameras and tree stands, many will fall victim to the handful of undesirables that slither in the woods. One hunter intent on capturing and prosecuting the villains is placing a trail camera above the location of his ground-level trail camera, hoping to capture the thief in the act. With trail cameras selling for as much as $500, the thefts are felonies. These thieves are a disease among us.

No progress on bill

Many have been asking about the proposed Sunday bow hunting bill which would have given hunters additional opportunities to thin Massachusetts deer herds on private lands with landowners' permission. Despite all the efforts of state Rep. Matt Beaton, a great sportsmen's ally, the bill didn't get passed during the legislative session that ended in July. As of now, Sunday bow hunting is still prohibited.

Pheasant raising

All the local sportsmen's clubs that participate in our state's pheasant rearing program have received and are now raising their birds in specially constructed pens to stock next October. The birds wear temporary eye shields to minimize aggressive pecking of each other.

All over the state, sportsmen's club Bird Committee members, like Auburn's Mike DuSavage, face challenges to keep their pheasants healthy, watered, fed, and safe from predators. Fishers, weasels, great-horned owls, hawks, raccoons, and mink are among the several potential threats that try to get into their enclosures, some of which are electrified and constructed with wire walls that extend under ground. Getting pheasants to maturity with no losses is a laudable triumph.